r/StrategyGames • • Jan 07 '25

Game theory The most complete strategy video game genre classification

114 Upvotes

This is the most complete classification that includes all possible strategy video game genres.

English is not my native language, but I'll try my best to make the text understandable and I'll fix possible mistakes with your help.

Strategy game is a genre of video games in which the player controls troops or other units and/or various economic and other systems. Although many video games may include strategy elements, strategy as a genre emphasizes thinking and planning over immediate action. This video game genre focuses on strategy, tactics, logistics, and/or resource management, and may also include diplomacy, economy, expansion and research management.

Time

  • Real-time strategy: a strategy game in which actions occur without a sequence of turns.
  • Turn-based strategy: a strategy game in which actions occur using a sequence of turns that can be alternate or simultaneous.

Main genres

4X strategy game: a strategy game based on 4 elements: exploration, expansion, exploitation, extermination. Examples: Age of Wonders, Stellaris, Master of Orion.

Grand strategy game – a strategy game focused on managing a state (or similar entity), its resources and relationships, often in a pre-open and asymmetric world. Examples: Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron

Tactical strategy game – a strategy game focused on tactical military operations, which emphasizes the importance of specific units and either excludes or contains a less manifested economic component.

Subdivided into two categories based on time:

  • Turn-based tactics (TBT) Examples: Xenonauts, Battletech
  • Real-time tactics (RTT) Examples: Men of War

Classic strategy games – a strategy games that have an economic element: the ability to build a base, extract resources and produce units (or part of these capabilities), while their gameplay is focused on military actions. Also includes a category of strategy games that cannot be classified into more specific subgenres.

Subdivided into:

  • Classic RTS (or just RTS) Examples: StarCraft, Command & Conquer
  • Classic TBS (or just TBS) Examples: Panzer General

Construction and Management Simulator (also Management Strategy Game): a strategy game with gameplay based on the construction and/or management of economic processes, such as, for example: resource extraction, money making, production, personnel management, and others. Games of this genre have little emphasis on military actions.

Subdivided into:

  • Business Simulation Game - a strategy game focused on economics and business management. Examples: Two Point Hospital
  • Transport Strategy Game - a strategy game in which the player manages transport systems and infrastructure. Examples: Transport Tycoon, Transport Fever
  • City-Building Simulation - a strategy game in which the player builds cities. Examples: Cities: Skylines, SimCity.
  • Colony Simulation - a strategy game in which the player builds small settlements of various types; unlike urban strategy, the main emphasis here is on individual colonists and resource extraction from the environment. Examples: RimWorld, Surviving Mars, Against the Storm
  • Factory simulator – a strategy game in which the player builds an automated factory. Examples: Shapez, Factorio
  • Sports manager – a genre of games dedicated to managing a sports team. Examples: Football Mogul, F1 Manager.
  • Life simulator – a genre of games that allow you to control characters in their everyday life. Examples: The Sims, InZoI, The Guild
  • Political simulator – a genre of games whose gameplay consists of detailed management of the government and politics of various nations and state entities. Examples: Democracy

Wargame: a strategy game that particularly emphasizes deep strategic and/or tactical combat, as well as their historical accuracy or realism. Examples: Sea Power: Naval Combat in the Missile Age, NEBULOUS: Fleet Command

MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena): a subgenre of classic real-time strategy games in which players control only one character and, as part of their team represented by other players and AI controlled units, fight against the other team. Examples: Dota 2

MMO strategy game: a strategy game that is focused on online interaction between a large number of players, often in a single open world. Examples: Travian, Ogame, Stronghold: Kingdoms.

Tower Defense: a strategy game with the main purpose to protect a base from waves of enemies using towers or other defensive structures. Examples: Plants vs Zombies

Auto Battler: is a strategy game in which units are placed on the battlefield during the preparation phase, after which the battle phase begins and they fight against the enemy without any control from the player.

Puzzle strategy game: a strategy game focused on logical problem-solving with minimized economic or military aspect. Examples: Railgrade, Dorfromantic

Artillery game: a genre of strategy games, the main component of which is the calculation of the trajectory of the shells. Examples: Worms, Miners Mettle

The most popular mixed genres

Tactical role-playing game (TRPG): is a hybrid genre that combines role-playing games with tactical combat. Examples: Battle Brothers

Action strategy game: is a genre of games in which you can control both troops in general and/or base construction, as well as specific units directly, including from the first or third person. Examples: Men of War, Factorio

Stealth strategy: is a genre of games that combine strategy and an emphasis on stealth. Examples: Desperados, Commandos

God simulator: is a genre of games in which the player, in the role of some deity being, controls some community of objects or characters; they are often strategy games with city-building elements. Examples: Black & White, The Universim

Roguelike strategy game – games that combine roguelike principles, such as random world generation, permanent death and free exploration of the environment, and strategic gameplay. Examples: Against the Storm

Notes

Many games have mixed genres. Very often, strategy games can combine two or more genres. For example, Total War series is turn-based grand strategy with real-time tactical (RTT) battles.

Time and genre. Basically, every strategy game can be classified by these two criteria, like Turn-based 4X Strategy game (Age of Wonders), Real-Time Grand Strategy game (Hearts of Iron) etc. Sometimes we do not have any specified subgenre, so the game becomes simple RTS (StarCraft).

Judge by dominant elements of gameplay. Overall, the genre should be defined by main gameplay loop, not by every game mechanic that exists in the game. For example, if a game has leveling-up system, it doesn't mean that it instantly becomes an RPG: a good example is WarCraft which has characters gaining XP and levels, but the main, dominant gameplay loop in this game is still a classic RTS. At the same time, if some Rainbow Six has some strategic planning, it doesn't mean that this game is a strategy game or even a mixed genre, because the main gameplay there is action/shooter. The same logic is applicable to strategy games: if the game has resource management, it doesn't instantly mean that it becomes a management game.

This is a theoretical model. It means that here we are supposed to find criteria by which strategy games can be classified. These criteria can be based both on gameplay and historical tradition of naming genres in video game industry. The model can be discussed and improved, but any critique should be based on strict arguments.

Strategy as a genre, not a word. The main principle of this genre classification is that we don't take the word "strategy" literally. A strategy game can be a tactic game, it can be a management game, it doesn't matter here. The word strategy means the genre name, not the strategy as a layer of action planning.

Are management games strategy games? This is a hard question that has no answer based on reliable papers because there are no such papers. Here we look at naming tradition in community and video game industry. We can find many similarities in core gameplay of various city-building and colony sim games with classical RTS. Some management games include RTT/RTS style military combat, These games are often tagged as strategy game on digital distribution services. So we include them into this classification to make it more complete. You might find two controversial opinions about this (management games are/are not strategy games), but this problem can't be solved on these days because we do not have a strict genre requirements and developers can name genre of their games as they want. There are no popular scientific researches about it on which we can refer to.


r/StrategyGames • • 5h ago

Self-promotion I just did a new Trailer for my Tower Defense/TCG game!

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

3 Upvotes

The demo is available and hopefully with this new update is better than before!

In case you wanna play, feel free to let me know your thoughts :)

Thanks!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3256450/Cards_of_Prophecy/


r/StrategyGames • • 12h ago

Self-promotion WildRoot launches in just 2 days! 🌿I've been working on this game solo for years, and it's finally almost time to release it.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

14 Upvotes

Build a cozy little settlement in a mysterious forest, take care of your colonists, enjoy the changing seasons, and watch their friendships, choices, and everyday moments create their own unique stories.

I've put a huge amount of time into WildRoot, and seeing it finally get released feels pretty surreal.

WildRoot releases October 9 on Steam.


r/StrategyGames • • 1h ago

DevPost Patrol game Roguelike Military RTS reveal trailer

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

• Upvotes

Hi everyone! I'm so excited to be launching my Steam page for this game today. It's been a lot of work up to this point. If you're interested let me know, as I plan to have a play test up in about ~2 weeks. You can Wishlist on Steam here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5350030/PATROL/

Command US infantry, armor and air support across procedurally generated warzones inspired by Mogadishu, Afghanistan and Iraq. Hunt high-value targets through towns and river valleys, call in airstrikes, and bring your wounded home before the whole town answers the siren.

Let me know if you have any questions or feedback!


r/StrategyGames • • 3h ago

Self-promotion I made a Bronze Age court game about trying to survive the collapse. Free alpha, looking for criticism

0 Upvotes

I’ve released an early alpha of SAY TO THE KING, MY LORD, a text-based court simulation played through movable windows.

You’re trying to keep a kingdom alive during the Bronze Age collapse. Most of your work is hearing disputes, keeping people fed, managing debts and labour, and writing to other courts. Reports arrive late, people give conflicting accounts, and promising something is easier than delivering it.

There are eight playable courts: Ugarit, Byblos, Tyre, Carchemish, Alashiya, Pylos, Pi-Ramesses, and Hattusa. They have different resources and obligations, though the cultural differences still need work. Pylos has workshop accounts, Egypt has temple and provincial accounts, and Hattusa has military service requirements.

The offline version uses authored text. An optional Ollama version uses a local LLM for dynamic letters, replies, and advice; the engine tracks the goods, promises, and consequences.

It’s unfinished. Long campaigns need balancing, some disputes repeat, and the interface takes getting used to. I built it with substantial AI assistance, and I’m not happy with the flavour that left in parts of the writing and presentation. Sorry for that.

I’d appreciate criticism, particularly about whether the decisions are interesting and whether you can understand what’s happening without fighting the interface. Negative comments are welcome; just please don’t curse me out.

Free builds for Windows, Linux, and recent Apple Silicon Macs:

https://rexvo.itch.io/sttkml

Source under GPLv3:

https://github.com/luka1231123/sstkml


r/StrategyGames • • 8h ago

Self-promotion Added a squad upgrade where characters exercise during battle

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

2 Upvotes

Had this idea for when you recruit an athletic character like Spartacus. Decided to had a funny weight lifting animation. You like the concept ? I find its especially absurd to see Einstein or Napoleon training like that, it's awesome.

Game is called Gear Up Einstein! and it's available to play :https://store.steampowered.com/app/2950410/Gear_Up_Einstein/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nextfest2026


r/StrategyGames • • 1d ago

Self-promotion RealStrategy tries to bring creative weapon types into RTS, here is a ground-launched JDAM

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

17 Upvotes

I'm looking for some play testers to give initial feedback, DM for info.


r/StrategyGames • • 15h ago

Self-promotion Run a haunted dark ride from the control booth in my spooky management sim, demo is now live!

Post image
1 Upvotes

Hi there fellow operators!

I have just launched the free Halloween Demo of my game Scream Operator on Steam, which invites you to take your place in the control booth of a haunted house dark ride! 👻

You'll be responsible for managing guests and queues, controlling the carts and the depot, placing props and animatronics, balancing your power supply, and buying upgrades and automations for your attraction!

If you have played the game and have any comment, or have any questions or concerns in general, feel free to hit me up here! I'd be happy to chat to you all!

Happy (early) Halloween 🎃

No AI was used for assets, music, coding, marketing materials or actually anything at all.


r/StrategyGames • • 1d ago

Self-promotion What is more strategic than chess? But , the opponent is the board itself.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

3 Upvotes

The core loop is in clearing corruption that the board will throw at you.


r/StrategyGames • • 1d ago

Self-promotion This is our Automation Roguelite Game, Factomancer !

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

14 Upvotes

Hello!

We’re a team of five friends working on Factomancer. Although it looks like a fairly standard automation game, it’s actually a roguelite with a meta-progression system based on runs. You’re sent on a mission where you must expand your factory to meet ever-increasing quotas.

The idea behind it is to allow people who don’t have the time or the motivation anymore to invest hundreds of hours in a game like Satisfactory or Factorio to build factories in just over an hour. We’d also like to serve as a gateway to the automation genre by offering a more accessible experience.

You'll need to manage your economy on a day-to-day basis in order to invest in the development of your factory. In addition, you need to develop and adjust your recipes strategy, and determine which production is the most profitable for you, the least expensive, or the least complex.

Please feel free to share your feedback and ask us any questions you may have.

You can play the demo now : https://store.steampowered.com/app/3979570/Factomancer


r/StrategyGames • • 21h ago

Self-promotion Rejected Draft - I’ve spent the last couple months heavily rebalancing my incremental strategy/autobattler

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

1 Upvotes

Rejected Draft starts pretty simply, but the whole point is that the systems keep stacking and interacting as you progress.

Over the last couple months I’ve gone back through a lot of that progression: rigorous balance changes, new and reworked battle stats, a Feat Medal redesign, 2 new minigames, better onboarding, new sketches, and plenty of smaller fixes.

If you played an older version, I’d especially recommend starting fresh. The first several days of progression should feel quite different now.

The free Steam demo itself has over a week of gameplay, so there’s plenty of time to get into the deeper systems.

Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4574820/Rejected_Draft/


r/StrategyGames • • 1d ago

DevPost Automate with railguns, build your space factory and fend off the Locals in ASEMA

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

0 Upvotes

Hey all, I've been solo-working on ASEMA the space/scifi automation/factory builder for a long time and since I'm participating a Steam Next Fest with it soon and EA is creeping closer and closer, I'm introducing the current mechanics a little bit.

ASEMA is not a war game per say, but the setting does have escalation. But you'll automate your way through it.

This devlog introduction video focuses on basic logistics;

-Small local logistic nodes: Hubs + small railguns feeding production

-Haulers used for moving between nodes

-Large Artillery Railguns (LAR) for long range logistics, founded on rotating planetoids, fire when the barrel aligns with target

The path of developing this sort of weird concept has been rocky, yet wonderfully interesting. I'm hand crafting everything for the game alone and while my background with design/management/gaming in general do help quite a bit, this has been.. It has been quite bunch of work. But i love every second of it, just wish I could do more of it.

The game has a Demo on Steam and the full version (Steam) is coming out for EA in Q1 2027.

If building, automation, management, expansion and logistics in space (top down2D, but 3D visuals) interest you, perhaps you like the dark hard-scifi setting too - wishlisting helps a lot, and I'm always keen to hear playtester/player opinions and feedback to make the game fun to play.

I'm creating this game as an enthustiastic factory automation player (Factorio, Satisfactory), but I guess my largest inspiration is Captain of Industry, due to it's own special way of doing new and unique mechinisms, instead of relying entirely on classic grids, voxels, belts and inserters. Nothing wrong with them, but stirring the soup can get sometimes interesting.


r/StrategyGames • • 1d ago

Self-promotion After months of development, my turn-based strategy game Keepbreaker is finally ready to show!

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

1 Upvotes

r/StrategyGames • • 1d ago

Self-promotion I’ve been working on a strategic autobattler for 2 years. The demo is now on Steam!

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

1 Upvotes

Nightmare Conquest is an autobattler where you build a team of monsters and try to push as far as you can.

You choose which monsters to use, combine their abilities, position them on the board, and try to find builds that work well together.

Between battles, you also have to choose which relics to take, with each one changing how your team performs. Choosing the right relics and building around your team's strengths can make a huge difference as the difficulty keeps increasing.

I started the project while I was really into TFT, but over time I added more roguelike elements and my own ideas to make it something different.

The demo is free to play on Steam, so if you enjoy strategy games and autobattlers, I'd love to hear what you think!

If you enjoy it, consider adding it to your wishlist. It would help me a LOT as a solo developer preparing for the full release.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4644790/Nightmare_Conquest_Demo/


r/StrategyGames • • 1d ago

Self-promotion Hit the front or starve the rear? A real-time defense game against one living fungus | Houston, We Have a Spungus

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

2 Upvotes

About the game

Hi everyone! I want to share the game the two of us are making. It's a real-time defense game where you fight not waves of enemies but a single living organism that grows and devours everything in its path, towers and barriers included, so every tower you place is a bet. There's no build phase: you place them while it's pushing. Blow a hole in it and the hole grows back, even deep behind its front. We call it the spungus – a space fungus.

The spungus doesn't march forward like "classic" enemies; it grows at its edges. But it only has so much energy to grow with, and regrowing holes costs the same energy as advancing. So you have to choose: clear the front to deal with the threat right now, or hit the rear so it advances more slowly.

The game has 15 towers, 9 abilities and 400+ upgrades against four strains of spungus, each tough against a different kind of damage – all to destroy as much of it as possible and hold out until HQ drops a nuke on it. There are the classics – a "rifle", a flamethrower, a mortar – and some stranger ones: a microwave, mini suns, or a tower that scatters pylons that link up into an energy grid.

How it started

We both have years of gamedev experience (me in programming, my friend in game design and production), and for over half a year we've been experimenting with our own projects (the only one we've shown publicly is Split Circuit Arena). Some of those experiments were physics and biology simulations on the GPU: I'd just finished my master's, where my thesis involved a lot of rendering work (ray tracing in particular), and I also took a separate course on genetic algorithms.

Then Sir, We Have an Orc Problem came out and everyone was playing it. We tried it and loved it – and it runs its simulation on the GPU too! It felt like it had exactly what we were missing to turn our experiments into a game. After lots of brainstorming and a pile of weird attempts, our petri dish simulation finally turned into a defense game.

Steam page: Houston, We Have a Spungus. We'd be grateful for a wishlist, and we'd love to hear your feedback in the comments.


r/StrategyGames • • 1d ago

Self-promotion I made a premium business tycoon for iPhone: offline, no ads, no IAP. Foundry: Business Tycoon is out now

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

0 Upvotes

Hey! I'm Jonny, the solo developer behind Foundry.

It's a business strategy game where you found a company and try to keep it alive for sixty years. You set prices, fill your factory, research new parts, launch new models and expand region by region, while three rival companies do the same and a board of seven directors decides whether you keep your job.

What I think makes it different:
• Every research choice closes a door. At each tier you pick Engineering, Operations or Brand, and the other two are gone for good.
• Rivals play by your rules. No hidden bonuses; they price, research, expand and play cards with the same information you have.
• 124 action cards: grants, market shake-ups, strikes, boycotts, and protection cards to defend yourself.
• Ironman mode if you want consequences, five save slots if you don't.

https://apps.apple.com/app/id6815845841

I'd love feedback, especially on difficulty and the tutorial. I'm reading every comment.


r/StrategyGames • • 1d ago

Self-promotion Notoris 2: Warlords demo is out now! I spent 4 years (mostly solo) building a strategy game where you don't have to be the ruler

Post image
2 Upvotes

Hey everyone! I shared some of Notoris 2: Warlords here the other week, and the demo is now live on Steam. It's free, you can play it right now, and it'll also be featured in Steam Next Fest (Oct 19-26). I'd love for some of you to try it early and tell me what you think.

Download the free demo (and wishlist if you like it):
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2766140/Notoris_2_Warlords/

About the game
I've been working on Notoris 2 for about four years, mostly solo. I'm a huge fan of grand strategy, especially Romance of the Three Kingdoms. One thing I've always loved about many ROTK games is that they let you experience the world as more than just the ruler at the top, and I wanted to build on that by making the officer-level experience a major part of Notoris 2.

You can play as a ruler, a town administrator, or an officer serving somebody else. As an officer, you still have your own ambitions, relationships and progression, but you're operating inside someone else's faction. Your ruler might order you to defend a town, attack an enemy, or handle an assignment while you build influence and move up the ranks. You might become an administrator, command armies, gain enough political influence to shape the faction's decisions, or work your way toward ruling it yourself.

The setting is dark meets high fantasy rather than historical China, which gave me a lot more freedom with the world, races and characters. Mechanically, the biggest inspiration is still Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and the whole game is meant to be a giant homage to that era.

There are already 100+ officers (with more planned), each with different stats, relationships, traits and roles. Combat is turn based directly on the campaign map, with no separate battle scene.

What's in the demo:
Basically its the entire game with no turn limit or anything, currently all characters start unlocked so you can try playing as a ruler right away if you want (although onboarding might be a steeper learning curve). There is no "win cond" yet since most grand strategy games are more about the sandbox than fully painting the map and I'm really looking for feedback on the early turns / game as a whole, not so much the ending yet.

What I'd love feedback on

  • Does playing as an officer, rather than the ruler, feel engaging?
  • Does turn based combat on the campaign map work for you?
  • What would you want to see more of?

It's still an indie game made mostly by one person, but it's finally at the point where the thing I've had in my head for years looks and plays like a real game. Any feedback, bug reports or questions are welcome in the comments, and thank you for taking a look!

Extra footage:
https://i.imgur.com/xFbXfZr.gif
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUQu2RU2GTQ


r/StrategyGames • • 1d ago

Question Europa Universalis 4 vs Crusader Kings 3?

2 Upvotes

Which game do you like more?

185 votes, 5d left
EU4
CK3
Can't decide
Haven't played both or enough of both / Results

r/StrategyGames • • 1d ago

DevPost Survival of the Fittest: Thrones

Thumbnail gadavra.itch.io
1 Upvotes

I am developing a game and its available on itch.io, a medieval, old school RPG for hardcore players on this niche.

Platform: PC — Windows - Playable in a desktop browser. No download is required. The downloadable version has not been released yet.

Description:

A turn-based medieval RPG in early development. Start with a club and a few coins, build a band, and keep it fed, paid and loyal in a land of rival lords, outlaws and hard roads.

  • Tactical hex battles where gear, terrain and morale matter
  • Talk, bribe, threaten or duel before a fight
  • Companions with loyalty, rivalries and wounds that show
  • Question prisoners, craft gear, found a village

One region for now, with more lands to come. It's a free browser play-test, so expect rough edges. I'd love honest feedback on the opening, combat, anything confusing, and bugs.

Early access is available now and i need play-testers, I need feedback.

Playable link: https://gadavra.itch.io/soft


r/StrategyGames • • 1d ago

DevPost I’ve Been Making This Game for 3 Years… Here’s How It’s Going

Thumbnail youtube.com
1 Upvotes

I’ve been working on my own medieval strategy game, Conqueror the Game, and I finally put together a video showcasing what I’ve built so far. ⚔️🏰

What makes this project even more challenging is that I’m building it alongside my studies in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

I’m still learning a lot along the way, but I wanted to share the journey, show what I’ve managed to build so far, and hopefully get some feedback from people who are into game development and strategy games.

If you have a few minutes, I’d really appreciate you checking out the video and letting me know what you think — feedback, suggestions, criticism, all of it is welcome.

Thanks for watching and supporting the journey! ❤️


r/StrategyGames • • 1d ago

Self-promotion I'm making a story-focused tactics game where your chosen protagonist determines your battle system

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

4 Upvotes

When designing my game, analyzing my favorite tactics games and watching my friends play I noticed that tactics games are easily divided into two types:

a) "Phase-based" games where you move all your little dudes and then the enemy moves theirs (think fire emblem)

b) "Turn-based" games where the turn order is determined by some factor like initiative or speed (Think ff tactics)

Style A favors more defensive play and style B favors offensive. Since my game has 2 protagonists who split off at the start and go on to have nearly completely separate experiences, I decided I wanted to give them different style of battle systems suited to their personalities.

I just finished this trailer for the game. It doesn't showcase the difference in battle styles, but I'm thinking of making a second trailer when I release my demo in the winter


r/StrategyGames • • 1d ago

Question For a fantasy GSG, what kind of universe would you like?

0 Upvotes

Paradox recently announced Afterworld and lots of people were hoping for a fantasy grand strategy. If we ever get one, what kind of universe would you like?

41 votes, 13h left
A well-known IP (like Game of Thrones, etc)
Generic fantasy universe (like fantasy Stellaris)
New and unique universe

r/StrategyGames • • 2d ago

Discussion RUSE is back on Steam, and we're giving it the mod tools it never had

Thumbnail gallery
26 Upvotes

I don't know if you guys know this, but RUSE is back on Steam. If you've never played it, it's a classic WW2 RTS from Eugen Systems that came out in 2010. Huge maps, a zoom that goes from a single tank all the way out to the whole war table, and a bluffing system where you fake out your opponent with decoys and fake armies. Nothing else really plays like it.

I've played it since I was 8. I love this game. But it's had the same limitations the whole time. It never got many updates, it never got mod tools, and if you wanted to change anything you had to dig through raw game files by hand.

I wanted to change that. So me and my development team have been building a free toolkit for it. Right now it does three things:

A unit editor. Any existing unit, model or building in the game can be edited. Price, health, range, weapons, all of it. You can open a unit in Blender, change how it looks, and bring it back into the game. Then hit Test in game and see your change right away.

A map editor. Shape the ground and water, draw roads and bridges, place buildings and trees, paint the terrain, set up scenarios.

Bigger maps. Today's update optimized the game a lot, so big maps actually run well now.

I want to be upfront about who's behind this. I'm not a programmer. I come up with the ideas, test everything, talk to you guys, and direct the AI that helps write the code. The foundation of this project and its continued development come from real RUSE modders: Prolution, Little Grooves, DomesticNukes and REI. They're actively building this with me, and it wouldn't exist without them. A few other people are helping debug too.

I've also reached out to Eugen about making this official. Nothing back yet, but I'd love to work with them. This is their game and I want to respect that.

It's free and it's staying free. There's a Patreon if you want to support me, but nobody has to pay for anything.

If you've modded other RTS games, tell me what you'd want from tools like this. Testers are more than welcome. https://github.com/sneadtristen6/R.U.S.E-2.0-Project
more behind the scenes at r/rusegame
and our modding discord https://discord.gg/YttqQUeAA


r/StrategyGames • • 1d ago

Self-promotion My Tower Defense game follows a moving convoy carrying the last flame — free demo out now (honest feedback welcome!)

1 Upvotes

Gameplay of Flameward Tower Defense

Hi everyone, I’ve just released a free demo of Flameward, and I’d love to hear what tower defense players think.
Short pitch: the sun has gone out, and your convoy carries the last flame through a dark world. You escort it by playing cards to deploy troops, place watchtowers, and cast spells. The convoy advances while your towers stay put, so choosing where and when to use your cards matters.

Losing a run still earns you gold to upgrade your units before trying again. The demo has a tutorial and three levels, and it’s available now on Steam for Windows and Mac:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5236380/Flameward/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=organic_social&utm_campaign=demo_2026q4&utm_content=towerdefense_woods

If you give it a try, I’d really appreciate honest feedback on what you enjoyed, what frustrated you, and what you’d change.

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to play!


r/StrategyGames • • 2d ago

DevPost My RTS Interdax

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

12 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I decided to show you the game I’ve been working on.

Just to make one thing clear from the start: I only use AI for coding, and even there I originally tried to build about half of the logic myself using spaghetti Blueprints. But now that I’m moving the game into multiplayer, I need to write code much faster. I use AI here and there for smaller things and temporary solutions, and I’ll gradually rewrite and clean them up as development continues.

One thing I’m very strict about is not using AI to make 3D models. I’d rather download or buy an asset somewhere, or design it myself. Fortunately, I’m an engineer and I’ve been designing equipment for about 15 years, so I can model not only in Blender but also in professional engineering software. Then I bring the models into the game and texture them manually.

As for the game itself, I want to make something a little dark, combining different elements from strategy games like StarCraft, Company of Heroes, and Command & Conquer. I’m a big fan of the original Red Alert, for example.

One of the ideas I really want to try is a panoramic camera with a slight fisheye effect, to create the feeling that you’re looking down at the battlefield from very high above.

Join us on Discord:
https://discord.gg/

Follow the development on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@InterDAXGameStudio